TMCNET eNEWSLETTER SIGNUP

(Nation (Kenya) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) My name is Otieno, a first year student at Pwani University.

I applied for a loan from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) in October 2013. When I realised my colleagues had received their loan disbursements yet I had not received mine, I contacted the HELB contact centre for clarification.

The centre informed me that my loan had not been wired to my account because my signature was missing from the application form and that I was required to go to Nairobi and append my sign.

I explained to the contact centre representative that at that moment I was in Kilifi where the university is located and that I could not manage to get bus fare within such a short period of time and travel to Nairobi.

Luckily, she understood my plea and advised me to pluck out the required page from the duplicate form I retained, sign it, and then give it to someone travelling to Nairobi to submit it on my behalf to HELB offices on the 18th floor of the Anniversary Towers bearing my name and ID number.

I did exactly that and I have since confirmed it was delivered.
But I am yet to receive the money. My HELB online account shows that I have never applied for the financial assistance.

My studies are at the verge of hitting a brick wall due to lack of fees.

Please help.

Thank you, Otieno, for reaching out to us on this matter. We appreciate the fact that you trust us to handle the issue to conclusion.

We got in touch with the students' financier regarding your complain and we thank the officials for responding promptly.

In its response, HELB noted that the document bearing your signature was received in its head office on January 7, this year. Your loan records are awaiting processing.
HELB also informed us that it has been in communication with you about this and advised you on the status of your application.

We can only hope that you will soon be in a position to get the money and proceed with your studies without a hitch.

At Capital Letters, we take this early chance to wish you success in your studies.

Hello Yvonne,
To say that I am a disappointed Safaricom customer is to understate the issue. Take this, my airtime is usually consumed courtesy of messages from a premium service that I have never subscribed to.

Calls to Safaricom's customer care centre have not yielded anything. All I get is a never ending song that lasts for over 10 minutes, and no one is picks up my call.

Prior to seeking your help, I went to the company's customer care office in Mombasa, just opposite Posta and I was asked to dial *100# then press 7 in order to unsubscribe to those unwelcome services.

I did that and for a while the messages stopped coming, however, on January 12, this year, I received a message from 20303 saying to get Nashukuru by Isaac Kahura, follow a link to download, and upon checking my airtime, it was all gone.

To the best of my recollection, I have never subscribed to this service or any other for that matter.

Surely, someone is reaping from where he did not sow.

The cost per message is Sh30 and this leaves me wondering whether Safaricom is working in cahoots with some crooks to fleece unsuspecting customers.

What is the company doing to protect customers from such vices?
I am a computer science graduate and would offer the firm some advice for free: Give the customer the power to accept messages from those services by a prompt message first upon which when a customer allows the details, then credit is deducted.

It will cost the firm but at the end of the financial year, it will have legitimate earnings. I need my credit back and an apology, too.

Help me and many other customers who are suffering from the same.

Thank you. — Bryant O.

Bryant, we appreciate you for lodging your complain with us.

It is unfortunate that you have been losing your money through subscriptions which to the best of your knowledge, you have never joined.

We contacted the telecommunications company, Safaricom, and it promised to investigate and solve the matter.

We are pleased that you have once again wrote us an email with information that your handset problem has been sorted.

We appreciate the feedback as it informed us that our efforts have been of help to you.